Pipeline Explosion Halts Gas Export to Turkey

A top official in Iran’s state-run gas company announced that gas transfer to Turkey has been ceased after a Monday night explosion at Iran-Turkey natural gas pipeline in one of Eastern Turkish provinces.

“An explosion hit the Iran-Turkey natural gas pipeline in the eastern Turkish province of Agrı last night and Iran has stopped gas flow to that country immediately after being informed of the incident,” the CEO of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamidreza Araghi said on Tuesday.

“Iran is waiting for the Turkish administration’s explanations about the cause of this explosion and suspends its gas export to Turkey via this pipeline by then”, he said.

The Turkish government has reportedly begun investigations to discover the cause of the explosion.

Iran, which has the world’s second largest gas reserves, holds 34 tcm of gas and exports 10 billion square meters of it to Turkey per annum.

The country’s priority for gas exports are neighbors like Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iraq.

Talks have also been held with other Persian Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, an official at the NIGC told FNA previously, an official at the NIGC told FNA.